


Till time tear us apart

by Kiyonek



Category: Marvel 3490, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Bodyswap, F/M, Female Tony Stark, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-Captain America: The First Avenger, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Steve is Tony and now Tony is Steve
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2019-08-01 03:20:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16276835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiyonek/pseuds/Kiyonek
Summary: She sat nervously, and then did a bit of storytelling about how she woke up this morning in the body of a woman when in reality she is a man.Rhodey all the while just stared at her… then stared at her more.The waiter delivered the coffee and winked.Toni smiled and said thanks in a cordial way before turning back to him. She didn’t wink back or immediately touch the coffee.She. Didn’t. Touch it.“So let me see if I got it right... you are not Toni.”“My name is Steve Rogers, yes.”-------Meanwhile, somewhere in 1939, Natasha Antonia Stark looked around and then back down to her new body."Well, fuck my life."





	1. The start of a weird adventure

**Author's Note:**

> This is kind of inspired in the movie Kimi no Na Wa but will have major differences on how or when the bodyswaps ocur. This chapter is more of a introduction of what else is to come

That day Toni was awaken by the feeling of something hard and uncomfortable on her back, and not in the good way, mind you. Her body moved, trying to find a better position with little to no success, so a minute later she just decided to open her eyes and face whatever the hell it was this time. 

She didn’t exactly expect to find herself inside of such a place. Like, seriously, the guy she took to bed last night didn’t seem to have such an ancient decor, but again, it could have been the alcohol and lust blinding her. Either way, it wasn’t like she planned something more than a one night stand, so there is no need to cringe with the “grandma” bedroom when she could just take her things and happily make her way back home for a cup of so much needed coffee. How did she fall asleep in such an uncomfortable mattress by the way? She should have been too hung up. 

Toni just thanked the fact that the guy was clearly absent —this could have been one hell of a awkward morning— and rolled out of bed. That was the moment she realized the pajamas she was wearing and oh sweet mother of god, who was that guy and why does he have such a nasty paraphilia? She probably looked like her mom and wasn’t that a scary thought? 

Her legs didn’t want to cooperate and her center of gravity seemed to have changed but she attributed those feelings to last night activities and so continued with bubbly limbs across the room. There weren’t any clothes on the floor so that meant that she should go and search the next one. 

She didn’t expect to see such a man candy after opening the door. That wasn’t the guy she had sex with last night, and hell if she wasn’t disappointed right now. 

Sexy man turned around from his place at the stove and his so beautiful aquamarine eyes gleamed with a smile, “Hey, sleepyhead, good morning.” 

“Mornin’.” Toni answered with her most sexiest smirk, and wasn’t her voice a little bit off? 

Mr. Unknown smiled more and let out a laugh between surprised and disbelieving, “You sure you are fine Steve? You did hurt your head last night.”

Toni’s eyebrows scrunched up, not understanding why sexy-man was calling her Steve of all things but probably the head wound have to do with that. Still, she doesn’t recall such a thing happening “Did I?” 

“Yeah, it wasn’t pretty. You should stop picking up fights, you know?” 

And damn if that didn’t make her eyebrows go all the way up to her hairline. Natasha Anthonia Stark sure didn’t go around the world picking up fights, making enemies yes, why not? But not physical fights. She goes to the gym to stay in form but really, she doesn’t know the first thing about fighting. Bless Howard and his parenting skills which include sending her to private schools and not military camps. 

Her silence didn’t seem to confuse the man and so she continued moving around the living room, picking up an old looking jacket, which seemed to belong to world war two and complemented the grandpa outfit that only now Toni was noticing with some distaste. This have to be a joke from Rhody, and god, this wasn’t funny. She is pretty sure her libido just flew out of the window. 

“Breakfast is in the kitchen, not get used to me cooking because I can barely do it, but yeah, sorry for what happened last night.” Then he started walking backwards to what looked to be the front door, “I am already late, so I will bide my goodbye. Not get in trouble and see you later, Steve.” 

The door closed behind him and Toni was left with silence and more questions than answers, which kind of make her jiggly on her toes. And that is it, she is out of here, this pretty much made it to her number five list of weird one night stands. So, after not finding any of her own clothes she marched to the door, not caring that she was going to walk all the way back to her dorm with PJ’s. After all weirder stuff has happened before around campus.

But oh, surprise, surprise. 

We are not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy. 

  


***

  


He didn’t fully wake up for a couple of hours, too comfortable to really try to move. And finally that was the realization that make him open his eyes with confusion. Did Bucky buy him a new bed? With what money? They barely can pay their rent, nevermind furniture. 

Then the second thing that make him confuse was the sight of a stranger dressing up at a side of his bed… actually this didn’t even seem to be his room. 

“Uh, you finally awake? You sure didn’t seem to be a heavy sleeper.” 

Because he isn’t, but it probably was the first time he ever sleep on something so soft. Still this wasn’t the most immediate problem, “Who are you?” And why his voice was so different?

The guy let out a snort full of disbelief, “I should have expected this, you were pretty hung up last night.” Then he stopped and gave him a lopsided smile while making his way up the bed, “but hey, no hard feelings, last night was great. I wouldn’t mind a repeat.” 

Steve wasn’t sure he understood what this person was talking about, not until the man closed up the space between them and crashed their lips. His eyes opened up like saucers, all the sleep abandoning him while shock tensed up his muscles and enable his body from moving. 

The stranger separated and looked into his eyes, searching for something. Finally, when he didn’t find it, he let out a disappointed sigh and jumped out of bed to finish putting his shoes on, “it seems that no.” 

Steve didn’t answer —too shocked to normally function— and so just looked in silence how the (obviously handsome) man deemed himself ready in from of a full body mirror for later making his way to the door. With a short: “Remember to lock the door when you leave.” He was gone.  

He didn’t make an habit out of swearing, but… what the fuck happened last night? He is pretty sure he made it back home thanks to Bucky. Or maybe that didn’t happened, he did hurt his head after not ignoring the banter some guys at the bar were throwing his way. It was Bucky's fault he was there in the first place, he and his idea of getting Steve a date with some fine dame. Steve appreciates his friend’s support, but the reality was that he wasn’t exactly every woman’s dream. The fact that the girl who supposedly was his date ended up more interested in his friend was the very prove of it. 

Still, nothing of what he recalls can explain why he is actually on some stranger’s bed. Naked. 

Oh god, he is naked. 

And he is pretty sure he didn’t had so much weight on his chest before, or his hair being that long and brown. 

  


***

  


Well, there probably is a logical reason for why she seems to be trapped inside the body of this “Steve” somewhere in the 40s. 

Who is she kidding? There is nothing logical in this! 

God, did she sound so much like Spock just right now…

But again there is no way to mistake it. The moment she opened that door, and made her way through the old building to the street, she found herself on another world. Actually, it wasn’t that different but the people, the cars, and even some of the more ugly looking boulding were some of the most glaring signs that something definitely wrong; from the way she received stares of disapproval (what? Never seen someone on PJ’s before?) to the obvious absence of some of the most familiar skyscrapers on the Manhattan island. What was she doing in New York anyway? Last time she checked it was Boston outside her window. Her dorm’s window, to which she didn’t head to after getting it on with some hot guy in a bar. 

Shocked, and in need of some familiar ground, she made her way back to the building, and then inside the tiny apartment, closing the door behind her with a sigh. 

Maybe she was dreaming, it had to be it. She let out a nervous laugh.

“Yeah, this is just dreaming. I will wake up and Rhody will give me hell for disappearing again.” There it was again, her voice was different and that made her frown. She gave a experimental try to clearing her throat and singing out loud some letters, with the same result. She sounded male, and wasn’t that a scary revelation?

Next she looked down to her hands only to note that they were pale and clearly not hers. Then she began to explore with those foreign hands the expansion of her chest, expecting something else than the flatness that meet her. In panic, she took a hand to her intimate parts and found a dick hanging where there shouldn’t be one. 

“Rhody! This is not funny!” She called out to her friend, expecting him to came out laughing at any time now. “How are you doing this? Where is the camera?” With that in mind she started to wreck-up the place in search of cameras or any other thing that might help bring some sense into all of this. But even after moving some furniture and throwing books to the floor she came up empty handed and gasping for air, she, well,  _ Steve _ was exhausted. The place was clean, and though that was a good thing (she doesn’t want this to make it to the internet) it was also pretty discomforting. 

With a sigh she gave up and let herself fall down on a chair. It should be too early to have a breakdown like this, but at the end when you have already excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. She so just wanted to punch Sherlock Holmes in the face right now. 

Her,  _ his _ , stomach grumbled, and only then she remembered the breakfast the other guy promised to leave in the kitchen.

Maybe after some coffee, and an aspirin, she will be able to think clearly again. 

  


***

  


The moment he stepped out of bed he was one hundred percent sure that this was not his body. He tried not to look, but it was difficult when she was naked and the mirror wasn’t that far enough for him to ignore it. 

The dame was beautiful, the kind of woman he would never dream of having a chance with. He gave some tentative looks to her form before flustering too much and just concentrating on her face out of curiosity. He haven’t seen her before, and that thought calmed him because at least he didn’t switch places with someone he knows, still, breaking someone’s privacy wasn’t better. 

But he can’t help but look into those big dark chocolate eyes framed by long black eyelashes, her hair was a mess of dark brown waves and her face a work of art. He was itching for his art supplies, wanting to remember such beauty in case he wakes up. Because this is a dream, isn’t? 

Steve startled at the sudden noise of music, loud and harsh, nothing he was familiar with. He looked around the room with fright and as the sound persisted he began the search for its source. It took him a moment to realize it was coming from a little black thing that shined and showed the letters “Incoming call, Jimmy Rhodes.” It went completely dark, the noise stopping, and then it started all over again. 

After some indecision he picked it up on his hands, and, still confused, pressed what seemed to be a green button.

_ “Toni! Where the hell are you?!”  _

The voice came out of the strange device, and he dropped it to the floor in surprise. 

_ “Toni… I swear, if you are not back in your dorm by the time I get there I will have to hunt down that guy Reed so he could help me track your cell phone.” _

It was still talking, Steve was so scared that he just turned and took big steps to the door.

_ “What? You got nothing to say?” _

He didn’t listened to the rest and closed the door behind him, letting out a sigh of relief, and after calming down his heart he curiously looked around. He didn’t notice it it at first but this probably is the most expensive house he has ever been in, or so it seemed. Everything was weird and shiny, completely different to what he is used to. 

Remembering the softness of the bed he blushed a furious red. 

Obviously the activities that had trespassed on that room weren’t any of his business, still he feel violated somehow. Maybe it was the kiss, which in his current body made sense but it didn’t mean he was happy with it. Either way, nothing really made sense so he tried not to think on it and instead evaluated what to do next. The sight of clothes making a trail in the living room was his answer. 

  


***

  


Tony made some faces and the guy at the other side of the glass mirrored them. Yeah, that definitely was her, and so blondie pouted back at her.

Actually, that expression was kind of cute. 

After the initial shock, mostly the realization that this wasn’t her era anymore, she has to say that the exchange is funny, with this Steve being a blue eyed blond boy and a thin complexion. Not that Toni discriminated, she really doesn’t have too much of a preference as long as the sex is great, which normally occurred with muscled men but still there are some surprises out there. 

Lovely and all that this is she just hopes it is not permanent. The “dream” idea discarded long ago when she pinched herself and almost threw up on the floor after taking some bites on that sandwich, what was it made of? Literal sand? Because it sure didn’t taste like a sandwich, and that was the event that prompted her to check on the fridge. It was good that there wasn’t too much food to begin with because the refrigeration, the whole point of having a fridge, didn’t work so eventually anything in there was going to get spoiled. At least she did find some coffee, not the best she has tried but it was something. 

Later on, Toni felt the need to see what really happened to her. Recalling the name the guy from earlier said she ended up searching for a mirror, which she found in the most obvious of places. 

She let her eyes slide from her reflection and around the bathroom she was currently in, noticing with a frown that it was as crappy as the kitchen. Clearly the men that live here tried to keep as tidy as they can. For Toni it is more than difficult to tell if they succeed, very much used to modern day luxuries as she is. It wasn’t her problem, either way. 

Toni proceed to wash her- _ his _ teeth, feeling weird at seeing that male face in the mirror instead of hers. It wasn’t her body, but as hell was she going to let herself  feel dirty all the day, so her eyes drifted all the way towards the bathtub, and then she looked down to herself.

What is it like to be a male? Does pleasure feel different when you are the one giving and not receiving? 

Toni was extremely curious, the scientist inside of her smiling at the new mystery, but at the end she was more worried than excited at the implications of her present situation than anything else. The calendar that she found on her rampage earlier stated clearly what she already suspected.

Today was the eighteen of April, 1939. Barely five months before the break out of war, before Germany have done the first Blitz and taken over Poland. And although Howard surely already is a “great” inventor in this time, and maybe the only one around here that can provide any help at all, she can’t just show up and claim to be his daughter from the future that coincidentally happened to have body swapped with a random boy. 

Yeah, right. That’s not gonna happen. 

  


***

  


After blushing hard at picking up what looked like female underwear —and putting on some pretty tight pants made of a strange material on top of it— he discarded the possibility of putting on the too revealing sleeveless t-shirt he found. He was still wondering where this dame’s dress was, because that is what every woman wears. In his search for some more appropriate clothing he made his way inside the bedroom. He eyed the black device warily from his place at the door, and after a minute of waiting for it to make any type of sound he moved on to the dresser. 

It was like opening the doors to another world, even more confusing than the one he was currently standing on. He didn’t recognize any of it, other than a few dress pants and shirts. There was no woman clothing at all so that probably meant that they weren’t married. The thought of this dame being a whore tore at his heart, she surely deserved more. But again, life isn’t fair, and Steve knew this more than anybody else. 

Thinking back to the matter at hand he just picked up the most cheapest looking shirt, not wanting to stole something that would be missed and get the dame in trouble for his actions. This was too detailed to just be a dream, he is an artist but there is no way his imagination could come up with something like this. He haven’t seen a naked woman before, when trying to come up with an image there was a blank space in his head.

There was.

He is sure that now it is filled up with the vision of the goddess in the mirror. 

The device started up again with its loud music and so Steve take his cue to leave. He proceeded to leave the place spotless, mostly of the clothes that where everywhere on the living room and so made a mountain of them on a chair, before making his way to what obviously was the front door and closing it behind him, the lock clicking in place. 

It wasn’t until he reached the street that he realized just how fucked up he actually was. He didn’t recognize this part of the city, and he have been to Manhattan more than a few times due to his work on the newspaper. 

A loud horn caught his attention. 

“Move! Don’t stand in the middle of the street, I have places to go!” exclaimed an angry driver, barely stopping before running over the confused  _ woman _ . The car something that Steve haven’t seen before. 

“Sorry!” Steve quickly apologized and backtracked to the sidewalk, in his stupor he had walked all the way to the middle of the street, trying to decipher where he was. 

And then, suddenly, someone catched him by the shoulders, making him turn around and come face to face with a black man, a man that seemed to be more than angry. 

“What is your problem Toni?!” He said, and Steve didn’t know if he should stay instead of running away, not that running was even an option, he knew he could take care of himself and so he stubbornly stayed, “yesterday we were supposed to see the comet together but then you disappeared on me! You didn’t even call!” 

Right, the comet, he saw it yesterday in that alley when fighting those guys. One of the last things he remembers before awakening here, other than Bucky finding him. However, there was another thing that caught his attention, something the man inferred by not only talking as if he knows him, but also using a name. 

This man knows her. The dame which body he is currently occupying. 

There probably existed better ways of doing this, but as it is Steve just wanted to go home.

“This... this probably will sound crazy but-where are we?” 

  


***

  


It is crazy. The very idea of this kind of stuff being real, and not something out of a weird sci-fiction novel, send some spooky feeling through Rhody’s bones. Someone else in your own shoes, hell, in your own body, is many types of wrong. Still, he doesn’t put it over Toni to pull this kind of joke on him. She did come up with some crazy ideas.

Thought it is difficult to not believe it when said girl acted… shy. 

“So let me see if I got it right... you are not Toni.”

“My name is Steve Rogers, yes.”

Rhody closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. After not finding Toni he just assumed she went off to get laid for the night. Which he kind of confirmed that morning when he was forced to hunt down Reed Richard (Toni’s physics lab partner that she hates) for help, there was no surprise in finding her last location as some guy’s department. What he didn’t expect was to have her sputtering no sense of not knowing who she is and where they are. Rhody called bullshit and pulled her into a nearby cafeteria for then ordering a strong espresso. Yeah, only one. For her. 

She sat nervously, and then did a bit of storytelling about how she wake up this morning in the body of a woman when in reality she is a man. 

Rhody all the while just stared at her… then stared at her more. 

The waiter delivered the coffee and winked.

She smiled and said thanks in a cordial way before turning back to him. She didn’t winked back or immediately touch the coffee.

She. Didn’t. Touch it.

Again, Rhody pinched the bridge of his nose.

“You are not Toni, alright.” Sure, leave Toni to be the bane of his existence even when she is not here. And isn’t that even more scary? “Where is she?”

Toni’s- _ Steve’s  _ uncertain face said it all, “I don’t know, but I promise we will find a way to bring her back.” 

Rhody sure hoped so. 

And to think that he have just gotten here yesterday’s afternoon from his last deployment, just so to check up on Toni and listen to her commentary while seeing the comet cross the sky. But then he actually had to search for her and, after finally one of his calls was answered, awkwardly got the help of someone he barely knew to find her, because being greeted with actual silence on a phone call —with Toni, nothing less— can stir up some alarms. It only got worse when he heard a door closing. 

“I’m not awake enough for this” Rhody lamented, opening his eyes and reaching instinctively for the coffee only to recoil back a bit at the sight of the brunette. He eyed her and then the steaming cup before eyeing her again, “Can I?”

Toni looked confused and then suddenly startled at attention when noticing his glances, “Uh, you ordered it, I thought it was yours?” That sounded more like a question, she clearly didn’t know what was going on.

She didn’t immediately reach out for the coffee as if her life depended on it. 

Rhody signed and massaged his temples again.

“Not Toni, sure.” 

  


***

  


Waking up in a dame’s body is confusing in its own right. Being suddenly dragged into a very nice and expensive looking cafeteria by this dame’s friend —or so it seems— is more scary than everything he has ever confronted before. Steve has had more than his own share of street fights, but there is something different in willingly standing up to a bully in contrast to sitting across someone that pretty much deserved to punch Steve in the face. He is the one here making a breach of privacy, after all. 

The man nearly aspired the hole cup of coffee in one single swoop before regaining some sense of calmness and taking a deep breath, “So, Steve Rogers, where are you from?” 

“Brooklyn.” That was easy enough to answer. 

Although that didn’t seemed to be what the man was hoping for, mumbling something about Toni and making disasters not near enough. Then he extracted another one of those black devices and started to tinker with it, just stopping to ask, “your address?” 

And that was when Steve closed off just a bit. He was talking with a total stranger, friend of ‘Toni’ or not. Sarah Rogers has installed into him the need to be weary at others, not everybody out there is nice, and Steve has learned it the hard way. He could not go around the world telling people where he and Bucky sleep, so that is why he had to ask, “what for?” 

“If you are here then maybe she is in your body or, I don’t know, in somebody else’s body, but we need to go there and check.” He said, standing up and fumbling with his pockets a bit before placing a bill on the table and then leading the way out to the street. 

The mere number in it will plague Steve’s nightmares for the foreseeable future. That is too much money for one cup of coffee. He almost tripped while following, still in shock at the casualness of it. 

Back in the cafeteria, the waiter will pick up the five dollar bill and scoff at poor tip he could get out of it. Some people need to pay their student loans from somewhere, you know?

“Do you have your, well, a wallet with you?” 

“Not really…” he did wake up naked, and now that he thinks of it maybe he left some of Toni’s belongings in that department. 

Toni’s friend seemed to reach the same conclusion because he signed, “I am so not paying for those plane tickets, maybe she has some credit cards on her dorm…” he last mumbled to himself.

“Plane tickets?” That didn’t sound right.

The man —Steve so needs to learn his name— called a taxi and sended him a crooked smile while opening up his arms as if indicating the place they were currently standing on, “Welcome to Boston” 

  


***

  


1939 wasn’t so bad…

Who was she kidding? She is so bored she might just use that prehistoric toaster and end her life. 

There wasn’t anything else to do, other than lament the lack of food, good coffee beans and warm water for the bathtub. She did end up taking a bath despite the obvious change on her gender —not that this guy have something she haven’t already seen before—, but she couldn’t enjoy it because the water ran cold too soon. 

Feeling bad of the disaster she left on the living room she started picking up books and then reorganized them on alphabetical order before putting everything else in random places out of prettiness. She didn’t exactly remember where everything was placed, so swing it she did. 

At the end the ugly apartment looked many light years better than before. Maybe she could have made something out of being an interior designer, if only Howard wasn’t too obsessed with her becoming an engineer —which she actually is, by the way.

If she is still assisting to classes is because Boston keeps Howard away, and that there is some sense of fulfillment when she receives a new degree every year. Not that it matters now, with her being in 1939. Maybe she should relent and go in the search of Howard, but then, what about that law of not revealing the future? Even if it isn’t estrictly a law it doesn’t seem like a good idea anyway, she could stop existing after all. 

So she was bored, worried, and in all jittery on her fingers and feet, slowly drying for something to do. Probably it wasn’t a surprise that when she found a toolbox she went instantly to the kitchen and started taking all the electronics apart. She didn’t exactly know about what makes a stove a stove, but she is a genius so it was easy to eventually learn how it works and then put it back together in a better combination, stove working ten times more efficiently than before. And that was the start of a series of renovations that she planned to make until afternoon meet her with the wrench on her hand, or better translated to the other guy coming into the kitchen and finding her hands deep in the fridge. It seemed to be past five in the afternoon, but again it was normal of her to lose the sense of time. 

“Uh, hi”

Really smooth there, really smooth.

Guy looked confused but also had a amused smile on his face, “what are you doing Steve?” 

“Well, you know, the fridge stopped working again” she didn’t know if that has happened but, most probably, it did at some point, “calling a mechanic or someone to repair it will be expensive so I decided to see if I could do it myself” 

Someone should probably congratulate her on her acting skills. 

“You sure you are not damaging our only way of having fresh food?”

As if this prehistoric fridge could maintain something other than dinosaurs fresh, “I will take the risk”

The way he shrugged and went to place a bag in the counter told her that it was a risk he deemed worth taking, “so how was work at the newspaper?” 

Shit. 

But hey, she couldn’t be at fault, how was she going to know that this Steve has a job?

“Great! Same as always, nothing out of the ordinary.”

“You mean that they turned down your comic strips again?” 

Double shit.

“People are hard to please.” 

Guy —and she should probably learn his name— looked confused but not suspicious so that should be something, at least he let the matter rest and moved on “Anyway, I bought dinner, do you want soup or chicken pie first?” 

Color her pleased and surprised, “gimme the chicken pie” 

  


***

  


After going into what looked to be Toni’s apartment and picking up something called a card they made their way to the airport. 

Steve has hear about it, seen some go across the sky, but not ridden one.

“Shouldn’t it be less expensive to go in a car or train than using an airplane?” he asked standing in the too loud and crowded place, it reminded him of a subway station, though with less people. It is a expensive way of transportation after all. 

“It is, but a plane is also much more faster, and knowing Toni I don’t want to take any chances.” 

For the little things Steve has collected it seems that Toni is somewhat rash and gets into a lot of trouble most of the time, so probably it was in their best interest that they find her as soon as possible. He didn’t thought his first time out of New York would be like this, and Boston was a sight to behold. The people have a strange choice of clothing, and wherever he looked there were expensive cars and stores. At least now he doesn’t feel bad at making Toni walk around on pants, it is more comfortable for Steve this way. 

“You don’t mind if we seat in the economic class? Of course you don’t, you are not Toni, nevermind” That hardly was the first time Toni’s friend asked for his opinion, Steve feels bad at how confusing things must be for him. It made Steve more determined to get into that plane.

It wasn’t until they were seated on it that he began to had second thoughts about it. 

“First time flying?” asked a little boy seated beside him, James —as he finally awkwardly asked Toni’s friend’s name— in the seat that followed the corridor at his left. They got some last minute tickets so they didn’t get to be picky with the seats. Not that it mattered anyway. 

“Yes.”

“They say that in a normal day one out of ten airplanes around the world falls.”

Steve did a double take, “What?”

“Samuel! Stop scaring the pretty lady, nothing is going to happen.” Scolded the woman sitting by the window.

“But moooom! It is the truth!”

Steve wanted to ask James but he was fast asleep on his seat. He did look tired.

The floor under his feet began to tremble and soon he could felt a force pressing him down to his seat.

The boy shared in a low conspiratorial voice so his mother wouldn’t hear, “Don’t worry, if we fall superman will come and save us all.”

Steve was more terrified than relieved. 


	2. End of the first day: AKA nothing makes sense

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Steve and Rhody are headless chickens while Tony is taking it better than what she should.

There should be something somewhere, something that she keeps missing when recounting the events that lead up to this morning. However, yesterday was quite a normal day for her. Toni made some progress on the bot she has been working on for sometime now, the programming being the most problematic because the bot is more a dummy than an actual artificial intelligence, and then there was Rhody’s visit. They have been planning it for the last week, just some hanging out and showing around the makeshift workshop she made out of one of the many laboratories MIT has. The sighting of the comet just happened to coincide on their schedule. 

The plan was to have some actual dinner —because the army hardly serves good food and Toni may had been forgetting to eat on her inventor rush—, and just relax on her dorm’s roof while seeing the espectacle. If she just so happened to receive a call from Howard scolding her, because she has been doing some corrections to blueprints of weapons she shouldn’t know about, and then decided to just fuck it all and have some fun at a bar while Rhody probably waited and called for hours to her door… well, she already know she could be an asshole most of the time. 

She just needed a night for herself, without the distraction of her projects or having to put up with some of the idiots at the lab that still underestimate her for being a woman. It was just supposed to be music, some nice vodka, and her own self-pitiness. The sex was a nice plus, it has been some time since she last got laid. 

“What ya’ thinking Steve?” 

Toni looked up to the guy sitting across from her on the table. He looked confused and maybe also a little bit worried, plate of soup long forgotten. She then noticed that at some time on her self-reflection she stopped eating altogether. However, she couldn’t help it, for it was getting lost on her thoughts or trying to make some small talk. And she has a gift of talking without thinking.

“Uh, nothing really just…” trying to solve a time-travel-body-changing-problem, “When was the last time you got, went, out on a date?” she blurted out the first thing that came to her mind, just stopping herself on time from saying ‘got laid’ rather than ‘on a date’. People were quite conservative around these times, weren’t they?

The guy almost choked on his own saliva, and that was entertaining to watch until it seemed he really was choking to death but luckily it didn’t last for long. His eyes were wide on an expression full of disbelief and surprise. 

“What?! Did you just asked for my love life?” 

Toni rolled her shoulders, “We are friends, aren’t we? We live together and all” or maybe she is reading wrong and they are more than friends, but taking in mind the time and age that is a can of worms better-off unopened. 

He still looked her on disbelief but a smile has broken out on his face, “But you never ask that kind of stuff, not offence mate, but you are more of a prude than most dames.”

“I am?” She asked scrunching-up her nose in some disgust. That is the type of people she can’t barely stand, they tend to have a stick shoved all the way up their asses. And now look at her, she is that stick shoved all the way inside little Steve, oh the irony. 

“Steve, what happened to that one girl that tried to kiss you?” 

“...I don’t know.”

“Exactly!”

Something tells her there is a juicy story she would like to know for blackmailing purposes. Not that it would help her out of this body, anyway so she resumed eating. 

“Just for the record, the last time I had a date was yesterday. You know, our double date in the bar, before you went full Steve mode on those guys” 

“Steve mode?” 

“This thing you do when someone piss you off. You got this look on your eyes and throw the first punch, consequences be damned.” 

So Kamikaze mode, got it.

 

***

 

“So, where is it?”

The question pulled him out of his mini-panic attack, still the feeling was overwhelming and threatening to crush him with all its force any time now.

Steve breathed in, and tried to make sense of the world around him, again.

“It… was here” here, where instead of a apartment building all what they can see is a very neglected parking lot, “I… I live here” or so it was.

What the fuck happened?

“Toni-I mean, Steve… I don’t want to sound insensitive, but this… this is a parking lot. How in the world do you live in a parking lot?!” 

This is wrong, hell, everything is wrong. While driving the taxi all the way here he was already seeing so many changes, like how all the buildings looked older than what they actually were, or how the people were wearing even more informal clothes… he thought that was a Boston thing. For a moment Steve took it as if they were going through another part of the city that he has never seen before, but there was no mistake.

This is the same street where he grow up, but different, so similar and different at the same time that it hurt. And to think that even the whole building is gone… What happened? Where is Bucky? Why everything is so different? 

“Where am I?” he asked with a little voice, looking helplessly at James, who clearly was also confused and freaking out because they were supposed to find Toni here but they didn’t, so now they don’t know where she is or what is happening and Steve is freaking out too.

James exploded. 

“What? And now you don’t know where we are?” the viciousness in his tone and even the sharpness of his words is something that Steve can understand, they rode an airplane here and now the only clue of Toni’s whereabouts is gone. Steve can relate, if Bucky was missing because of some stranger he would be mad too, “Does Brooklyn, or even planet Earth ring a bell?!” 

Steve averted his eyes to the floor, “I am sorry, Sir. But I don’t know much about what or why this is happening.”

He knew as soon as those words left his mouth that that was the wrong thing to say, but Steve couldn’t take responsibility of something that isn’t entirely his fault, if not at all. He is a victim too, but this is hardly any street fight where the bully is clearly noticeable.  

James snorted, “Sure, you know nothing” the mockery in his voice made it clear that he thinks that is a lie, “Answer me this question, why would anybody want to take over the body of Natasha Stark? The daughter of Howard Stark, owner of Stark Industries, a multimillionaire company. Does that ring a bell now?” 

No, it doesn’t, but now Steve knows that James has more than one reason to not believe in him. That doesn’t means that he isn’t going to try, “I know that this isn’t believable, but I do want to get my body back.” He said with sincerity and a kicked puppy look on his (her) face. Sure, Steve has asthma and passes more days than not confined to bed because of his proficiency to get ill. However, this is not how he imaginated getting a normal life, not by stealing someone else’s life. 

James nodded, and then nodded some more as if trying to affirm himself.

“Okey… let’s just, talk about how exactly this parking lot is your home.”

Steve signed, “I swear that yesterday it used to be an apartment building.”

“...that makes no sense”

“That is how I have been feeling all this day.” 

 

***

 

Sometime after deeming this trip to Brooklyn useless, both men —in heart— went into a dinner to get some decent food in. Maybe Steve didn’t feel hungry until now because of Toni’s insanely unhealthy stamina, but Rhody was more than ready to eat an hamburger and then a second one. 

He noticed that the man —if he can even call him that now— had been quite distracted during most (if not all) of the time. He has this look on his, well, Toni’s face, saying that he is lost. As if he didn’t recognize this place at all, the misplacement of his apartment just proved it. Also, it is still weird to see Toni making all those new expressions, even if he knows it is not Toni. 

Rhody doesn’t think that Steve made all of this out of trying to get some profit out of kidnapping Toni, the guy is too nice for that, but something is clearly wrong here. And it has nothing to do with the body swap, no, this is something else. 

After renting a room in an Hotel for the night —because there is no way he is taking this stranger to the Stark real estate or to his own apartment—, Rhody left Steve (he played some extra cash to the receptionist on his way out to keep an eye on him) under the pretense that he needed to contact some of Toni’s friends to see if any one of them has heard about her. The truth is that —other than Rhody himself— Toni doesn’t have friends, at least not in the sense of shit-has-hit-the-fan-and-I-need-help-friends. So what James wanted to do was ask around and get Steve’s back story straight. 

Back then, when discovering that Steve’s apartment has been turned into a parking lot, they asked around a little bit and gathered that the old building was demolished a couple of years ago, or maybe more, people usually doesn’t keep track of this things nowadays. It is common to demolish old infrastructure when the owner doesn’t have the money to do the respective repairs, being more safer that way. Most of these buildings have been around for at least seventy years, enough time for the wood to rot. 

The information was like a punch to Steve, and he claimed that the building surely didn’t have more than fifteen or, at the most, twenty years of being built. However, a look around the neighborhood showed that most of them did seem older than what Steve remembered, so there was that.

Rhody already had his suspicions but the idea was even more crazier than this whole Toni is not Toni business, so he prefered to just dismiss his gut feeling and all those science fiction movies. 

“Steve Rogers?” Asked a teenager attending the counter of an electronics store.

“Yes, have you heard or meet him before?” That is pretty much the same question he has been asking around for an hour now, going from store to store, but up until now there has been no luck whatsoever. 

“No, I have not hear of it… Wait, I think I have.”

“Really?! Where?!”

“My grandma sometimes talked about the time she was part of the USO shows, she also used to say that she should had married Steve Rogers instead of my grandfather. You know what, there are too many Steve’s in this world. Sorry, I don’t know that guy.” 

And here he thought he had something, “No problem, thanks anyway” It would be easier if Rhody had a photo to show around because it is truth that Steve is relatively too much of a common name. But he can’t go to the guy and demand a physical description without giving up some of his intentions. 

He could try and look it up on a database but for that he needed to go back to base… or have Toni do the job, which wasn’t an option anymore. So he needs to go back to base if he wants to find something. The problem is that he can’t leave Steve alone for days in Toni’s body. He supposes that the safest thing for now is going back to Boston and then find someone that can help keep an eye on him.

“Just out of curiosity, who is this Steve Rogers your grandma refers to?”

“Captain America himself, or so she says. My grandfather used to get jealous because he didn’t get to meet him.”

“I didn’t know that Steve was Captain America’s name.” 

“Everybody from around here knows it, there is a statue and all if you want to confirm.”

Rhody did go to see the statue. The figure was that of a tall and muscular man holding a shield with an honored and serious pose to it. The description read “To the memory of Steve Grant Rogers and all our fallen loved ones”. 

He stood there for a minute, seeing the features on its face before sighing in defeat and returning to the hotel. Better take care of Toni’s body than going after a dead end.

 

***

 

The moment he was left alone on the room he didn’t know what to do. He was feeling contradicted because he promised James to not parade outside on Toni’s body, but Steve really needed answers and that is something he can’t get waiting here. So he made the next best thing… he went out of the room and talked around with the staff and other guests. Technically he wasn’t out on the streets so it was a win-win. 

He tried to make some small talk with the housekeepers but most of them ignored him in favor of doing their jobs, some the men were polite enough to explain that talking with the guests was against the rules but that if he had any needs “feel free to ask”. Weird that that was accompanied by a wink. The guests for the most part were going straight to their rooms or to the main exit, walking quickly and in their own worlds. 

The people seemed as busy as always, but apart from that nothing else was familiar. He felt he was walking on another planet altogether. So, even at a risk of being called an idiot, he had to ask.

“This is Brooklyn, right?” 

The receptionist —a petite, dark haired woman—, as he expected, snorted, “Darling, are you high?” the confusion should have been clear as day on his face because she clarified, “Drugs? Heroin? Cocaine? Marijuana?”

Now Steve was horrified and indignant, “No! Good god, just… I have been out of the city for a while and many things doesn’t look the same.”

Cue roll of eyes, “That is what happens when you are away, things change.” 

“To the point of finding out your apartment building has been demolished?” he couldn’t contain the sarcasm and rudeness on his voice, but this dame attacked him with false accusations first. Drugs are no joke, he could be taken to prison just for mentioning them. Criminal rates have raised this year because of it after all. 

Yet, he didn’t expected to get laughed at, “You are high, alright.” Steve scowlded and tried to cross his arms but found it embarrassing since it involved taking a feel of Toni’s chest so he just stayed awkwardly upright. When the laughter died down she continued with her reasoning, “Ok, so I know for a fact that you are from Manhattan for one. And second, you live in a mansion, not on an apartment building, Ms. Stark.”

“I am not-I mean, yeah, I am Ms. Stark.” He forgot for a second there that he wasn’t Steve anymore, or that Toni’s last name is Stark. Still, it was weird that this dame knows more than him about Toni, “How do you…”

“Know?” She snorted again, as if the answer was easy, “If someone doesn’t know about you they live under a rock, they have been talking about you non-stop for the last year, if not of the guys you date then of speculations about why you are not on the company just yet. Anyway, whatever you are doing here it is not my business, but what is it you rich people use? Because that shit has to be great if a supposed genius is lost.”

“I am not lost,” or at least he hopes so, because the truth is that he isn’t sure this is his universe anymore. After waking up as a woman he is open to any explanation for all this craziness. 

The receptionist leaned forward on her elbows and said in a conspirative voice, “Between you and me, how does it felt being so rich that you don’t even need to study? They say you go to MIT, what did you offer them? Some nice donation for their laboratories?” 

She really looked curious about the answer, but Steve is sure that that right there was an insult. It made him feel somewhat angry but mostly uncomfortable. It wasn’t mean for him, and for all he knows about Toni it can be the truth. Steve have heard about MIT, some old school that only the right people could attend to, but doesn’t know much about it because what could a newspaper boy get out of it? He was home-schooled when he was a kid, mostly because of his sickness and that his mother didn’t have too much money for it. Sarah was friends with Bucky’s mom, who just happened to be a teacher, coincidentally Bucky wasn’t doing well in school so he joined his private classes. Since then they have been close friends. 

That was the moment the front door was opened and the bell chimed with the entrance of James, who at seeing Steve there tensed up. 

“Toni-Ste-” he throw a look to the receptionist and tried again, “Toni, I thought we agreed you will stay on the room.”

“You said to not go out of the hotel.” 

James let out an exasperated sigh, “I swear sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between you two” Steve didn’t know if that was a good or a bad thing, but seeing James advance to the stairs he just threw a displeased look to the receptionist before following behind. 

They advanced through the hotel in silence, the movement increasing the pressure he has been trying to ignore for some time now. Stubbornly he continued doing just so. It was only after entering their shared room that Toni’s friend stopped short so he could properly scowl him. Or at least that seemed to be what was coming.

“You can’t go out without me!”

“I think it will be much more practical to split up so we can cover more ground.” He doesn’t like the idea of being on a leash when he could do so much more, he can help in the search but James doesn’t let him. It was him who did most of the talking back there, all the while taking the word from Steve. The man-turned-to-woman is sure that James left him here so he could do more research on his own. Steve didn’t like it, but respected it long enough to limit his walk inside the hotel. However, there is a better way, and that way was splitting up.

The look on James face told him he thought otherwise.

“No man, you can’t just walk around the city while wearing Toni’s body! Coming all the way here was a mistake, we should go back to Boston.”

Now it was Steve’s time to explode, “What?! But we still got nothing!” They made it all the way to NY searching for answers and got nothing, “It has only been a day, we should stay and cover more ground. I don’t know what happened to the city but eventually we should find something” answers, Toni, Bucky, or his apartment. Hell, his own life! 

“Your building doesn’t exist! You don’t exist! At this point I am not even sure if your real name is Steve Rogers, Captain America, or whatever!”

Who?

Steve shook that thought and tried to make his point across, “That is why we should stay, we need answers and this is the best place to get them.” He already have time to think and sure, this is not the Brooklyn —or even the NY— he knows. He came to terms with that, and even if time travel seemed too far-fetched it was a better explanation than having stepped on a parallel universe. Still, he prefers not to name it —and doesn’t want to ask the year. Nothing makes sense and Steve just wants to go home. 

James sighed. 

“Look, I still don’t trust you, but I believe in what you said earlier about wanting your body back so the least you could do now is play along.”

Steve wasn’t sure he heard that right, does that mean… “You want me to try and act like Toni?”

“No idea where you are from but you don’t know who Toni is, that I gathered. She is heir to a very important company so it is normal for people to snoop on her life, the last we want is for the media to talk about your your ‘escapade’ to NY. The thing is that I would prefer Toni’s father not knowing we are here, hell, Toni surely would agree. Tomorrow is monday, we are leaving early so you could assist to classes on her stead.” 

Steve thought back to the awkward conversation with the receptionist and everything started to make more sense. 

“What about Stark?” Steve considered calling Toni out loud by her name but that didn't seem to be the appropriate form of doing it. He barely knows her thanks to James commentary.

“She is… reckless” James made a face before continuing, “but she can take care of herself, probably knows more than us right now. Seriously, maybe the best thing is to keep the fort up and wait for her to come around on her own… why are you standing that way?”

During the discussion he forgot about the pressure on his bladder, but with James addressing how Steve was now leaning heavily on the door with Toni’s legs tensed and crossed it was hard not to succumb right there. 

Steve couldn’t deny his needs anymore.

“Uh, I need to use the bathroom”

James flinched, feeling bad for Steve and Toni… well, mostly Steve, “It is right there” he pointed at the only other door in the room that didn’t face the hallway. 

Steve nodded, but didn’t move from his place. Toni’s face red.

“But… how do I…?”

“I don’t know, maybe just sit down and… I don’t know man, I can’t help you.” he isn’t an expert on how ladies go to the bathroom after all. 

“Does it… Does it bother you that I am going to…”

“A little, but mostly I feel sorry for you.”

“For me?”

“Knowing Tony by now she already should have copped a feel out of your body.”

Steve just wanted to die.

A little bit later found Steve washing up Toni’s hands on the sink before looking up and catching her eyes on the mirror. If possible, he blushed more. It didn’t helped that it translated to seeing Toni flushed red so he quickly fled the bathroom. 

James was already sleeping on one of the beds, so he took the other one, just merely discarting the shoes and keeping everything else on. He knows that at some point he has to take a shower, but he will put it off for as long as he can. 

Laying down on bed, Steve imaginated someone else moving around on his body, maybe snooping around the apartment or his drawers. God, he hoped that didn’t happened. 

His only comfort is knowing that Bucky is there and that probably already knows or suspects that something is wrong with him.

 

***

 

The next morning she woke up to the same tragic scenery.

The grandma decorations, the hard feeling of the mattress on her back and with a penis hanging between her, well,  _ his _ legs. 

Toni sighed and got out of the bed, wondering how she fall asleep in such an uncomfortable position while making her way to the bathroom. Taking a bath wasn’t to much of a problem but she still needs some time to get used to using the toilet. 

She isn’t much of a morning person but it seems that Steve is an early riser because she barely feel any crankiness and it was seven am. Well, yesterday she did fell asleep too early for her own standards.  

Anyway, she supposed that she should have know the other guy had to be up too. Only that she didn’t expect to find him outside the bathroom’s door.

Guy looked inside and raised an eyebrow.

“Aim problems?” 

“Don’t ask,” she hardly wants to talk about it. It is too humiliating already, “I will go get the mop.” 

He looked her with amusement and commented something about Steve being too much to handle and not knowing how he puts up with the little shit he is. Toni caught up with the playful banter and used her espectacular ability with words —mostly mentioning the now working fridge and termostat— to push him into submission and admit that he loves her…  _ him.  _ Although technically Steve is Toni now so she will count it as her win nonetheless. 

She can’t believe that she hadn’t been called out an impostor just yet.

Bucky, for his part, was mostly happy with how Steve seemed to have loosen up overnight, god knows the kid sometimes doesn’t know how to have fun. He really likes this improved version of his friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really wanted to show how Steve cames to realize that he is in the future, but the timming didn't seem rigth to bring up the topic. So he suspects but doesn't want to confirm it.   
> I hope everybody like this chapter.


	3. The day Steve will not talk about

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve goes to MIT, and they unexpectedly swap again in the most weird of times.

Monday began with an two-hours-long-early-flight back to Boston. Steve was still quite nervous of flying, but getting to sit between James and the beautiful dawn at the other side of the window made it better. Then it was getting back to Toni’s ‘dorm’, which actually looked more like an apartment than a single bedroom (bigger and more sophisticated than his and Bucky’s), and getting a copy of Toni’s schedule. James mentioned something about being for once grateful of Toni’s little awareness of the pass of time, because it seems that she has reminders for every single class she takes —in a thing that James called “computer”—, but Steve was much more worried about other things than the classes itselves. 

For one, the place is huge. 

Steve didn’t pay too much attention to it when he first got here, but it is a city in its own right. James gave him a short tour through campus on their way to the dorm complex, explaining that he studied here on an scholarship and had to join the airforce after graduating —he didn’t go to much into detail and Steve respected that. Still, even if now he can somehow orientate himself, Steve would not be surprised if he ended up getting lost anyway. 

Eventually, he took a quick shower, trying not to touch too much and not die from both the heated water and his racing heart. He wondered how women deal with long hair while reading some of the labels on the self-care products he found. At the end, Steve opted for just using plain soap and shampoo —things that he at least can recognize, for most expensive they seem—, and then putting on a pair of “jeans”, a t-shirt, and a black sweatshirt. It was too informal for his taste, but James called it a normal casual look of nowadays.

Steve preferred not to question that. He already had too much after showering and having to go through Toni’s underwear. There were these tiny things that were more lace than anything else and some circular shaped contraptions that—he really should stop thinking.

“What is this class about?” he asked while following Toni’s friend through the hallways, feeling uncomfortable and self-conscious of the panties that he was wearing and the very female parts on his chest moving and rubbing at each step against the cloth. There were some people walking around on their own worlds while wearing some variation of the same style in clothing, but the fact that these pants were just too tight didn’t help him at all. Sarah raised him to be a gentleman, and even if he has a valid reason for wearing them it doesn’t make him less than a pervert. 

“Differential Equations I, it is just math. Not even that complicated, I passed this class and probably Toni thinks this is a joke and doesn’t shows up to it at all. Just try to get decent grades, bad ones will make people outright suspicious.”

Steve wasn’t the best in math but he can try, so he nodded and stopped just before going inside, “Mr. Rhodes, I still think we should do more than just…” he made a vague movement with his hand, trying to make clear he is still not comfortable with this plan of action at all. They can’t just pretend that everything is fine and that Toni is where she is supposed to be. Steve understands that James wants this to stay quiet, but sometimes it is better to ask help from the authorities if none of everybody else. 

If he hasn't done so yet is for keeping Bucky out of trouble —maybe they would consider him the mastermind or something just for being there—, and the absolute incredulousness bringing up their case can cause. The most possible outcome is nobody believing him.

“Firstly, don’t call me that. Just call me James from now on because, you know, we are supposed to be friends” the look he threw to the hallway made Steve remember that they were not alone. Most of the people passing by or into the classroom were giving them curious stares just for being overly secretive with their conversation, “Second, Toni will find a way, don’t worry. Do you carry your-Toni’s phone?” the frustration of mistaking them again was clear on his face. 

“You mean a telephone?” they are not meant to carry around as James seem to be implying to say. 

“What? No. You know what? Forget it, just… I will be back in half an hour”

And with that he was left alone to venture inside under the gaze of his classmates, which made him even more nervous and brought back a little bit of color to his cheeks. Steve was home-schooled his whole life so he just took a seat all the way at the back, just to make sure he isn’t taking someone else place. Luckily the class began and no one approached him to claim the seat. 

Another thing that he noticed was the teacher regarding him for a second —maybe because James was saying the truth about Toni not bothering to show up for this at all— before starting the lecture. 

It was the longest hour and a half of his life. 

“Well? How did it go?” James asked as quietly and private as possible when the class ended and Steve walked out of the classroom on automatic mode.

Not even lifting his eyes from the floor he answered, “I am sorry, but I think I can’t pass as Toni after all.” 

Rhodes winced, “That bad?” 

“I… It was like listening to another language and not knowing what is going on.” And that is frustrating, his mind is one of the only things he can rely on when his body couldn’t keep up with difficult situations, not having even that makes him feel powerless… more than usual. Steve hates that feeling. 

“Dude, it is differential equations one, one” he stressed out the last word, and Steve could just assume that was because there are more levels to it, “What did you used to do before this?” 

“I draw for the New York Post.” 

James groaned.

***

Her newest bestie (in the 40s, for Rhodey will always be her platypus in her own present) went off to work just like yesterday, and so Toni was left alone… with a moop, and an appointment in the land of “getting back some dignity”. At least he thinks it was Steve who peed outside the toilet, otherwise she would have to search for new living quarters, ones without an annoyingly-sexy-asshole —he keep snickering and cracking all the way to the door. Sometimes the idea of all this being her imagination was more than plasauble. 

But then, the taste of the coffee and the obvious torture of having to live with outdated technology, says that if this was her imagination, then she is living a nightmare. 

It took her half an hour of going through their stuff —in a much more conscious way than her half-anxiety-paranoid state of yesterday— to finally come up with the names “Bucky” and “Steve” in the back of a black and white photo, two kids covered up in mud and smiling up to the camera. She already knows who Steve is, so Bucky should be the dark haired one, which carried a resemblance to her present roommate. It wasn’t difficult to connect.

There were some other photos depicting the two friends, and a particularly worn one of a middle-aged woman with a beautiful smile. She didn’t want to pry more so let the photos be and skimmed some newspapers. Nothing weird about them, or at least there weren’t any particularly critical events in history she should be concerned of. America didn’t get involved until 1941 so she should have plenty of time to figure it up before she destroys history or something similar. 

She also came up to a drawer with notebooks full of drawings and comic strips in Steve’s room. It made her curious of what kind of person he is, but as soon as the thought came it had to go. She wasn’t doing this out of trying to make her act more believable, this was just her getting info and clues on how she ended up in Steve’s body and why.

What caught her attention, almost immediately after the comic strips, was a yellow folder. It had a more formal vibe to it and so, after some more drawings, she found an application for a job in the comic department of the New York Post.

“Bingo”, Toni smiled and rushed from her place on the floor, in front of the desk, to the wardrobe. She made a face at the khakis and suspenders, but put then on anyway, before then rushing all the way back to the living room and out the front door. 

The last time she was out it was such a shock that she needed to go back and try to not hyperventilate. The accent on her own voice told her this is Brooklyn, and soon it became pretty clear that she hasn't been to this part of the city before. There isn’t even a slight familiarity with the architecture or the names of the streets but Toni didn’t let that interfere with her goal. She knows now where Steve’s work is —or was going to be— so she needs to act quick and make sure it is not some cover-up for some kind of secret lair for some time-travel machine, and if it is, what’s better than that? That is the only possible explanation, someone has to be behind this and she was just sure it couldn’t be Justin Hammer. He couldn’t code correctly to save his life.

She began to fantasize with discovering the time-machine, reverse engineer it, and use it as a way of getting home. Maybe after doing some research on this body, she is still curious after all. So Toni began a sure trek to what she hoped was the way to Manhattan. 

And five minutes later there she was trying to catch her breath at the side of the street.

An old lady, that Toni is sure she has outrunned by, caught up and politely saluted good morning before going on her business. 

Screw up the scientific possibilities, she really wants her body back right now.

***

At the end of the day they have gone through half of Toni’s classes and concluded that an artist like Steve —a home-schooled-artist that probably time-traveled from a time where going to college was a much more higher privilege than it is now— couldn’t pretend to know how to code in Python like the back of his hand. Even if he was in Toni’s body it seemed that none of her genius was left behind. At least Rhodey knows now that Toni is whole wherever she is, still it gives them a much bigger problem.

“You have to change back” that was a given, something that has to happen sooner or later, but now it needs to be more of sooner than later. An urgent matter, if you will. 

“I had a theory that sleeping could trigger the change but…”

“You are still here” he finished, letting himself sink further into Toni’s sofa. After classes they made a beeline to the apartment in silence, some of the student body send curious glances their way but James was used to it. Being friends to the most public-outgoing person in the world can do that, “Maybe it is something else, something that you both were doing before going to bed.”

Instantly Steve flushed a bright red, he tried to cross his arms only to be reminded of Toni’s boobs and finally abort the movement in favor of positioning his hands on her hips.

“I didn’t have… sex, that night.” The guy is a saint, and Rhodey really felt pity for him, being in Toni’s body couldn’t be easy. Hell, James winced at that admission, already knowing what surprise Steve waked up to, “And unless her partner punched her in the face I don’t think a fight is the answer.”

And it just happens that Rhodey didn’t see her at all that day, so there was no way of knowing how to change them back. 

Still, it needed to happen soon. Two or three days is fine, but there are quizzes and homework, and there is no way Steve could keep up with Toni’s peace, all her classes being consecutive and with some of the hardest teachers because she loves the challenge. Hell, she does extra credit essays because she enjoys it. Rhodey can’t ask much from Steve, the guy clearly isn’t made for this, so the obvious response to their predicament was…

“We need to find you a tutor.” 

The surprise in Toni’s face was both funny and scary. Thankfully, it was quickly replaced by a scowl and a hard expression on her face, that kind of expression is one Rhodey is oddly familiar with, “that means letting someone else know.”

And isn’t that even more stressful? Rhodey can already feel a headache setting in, but what else is there to do?

“Better it be one than the whole school.”

***

Tuesday morning came with trying to understand the gibberish that studying computer science comes with. Steve give up after the hour. He is stubborn, but can recognize when something is light years above what he can do. 

Classes came and went. The man turned woman still feeling uncomfortable with the female underwear and the looks he was getting from almost everyone. Normally Steve wasn’t too self-conscious, you get used to it when you have been as skinny and short like him for most of your life, but the glances people here give Toni were something else. It was like dreading the moment someone would stop him to try and bully him, only for that person to keep quiet and ignore him. Nobody —other than James— addressed her, and Steve couldn’t help but feel a little bit lonely. 

He strayed for a bit on his way back to the apartment, having to make it alone after James said he will catch up with the person who —hopefully— will tutor Steve.  
James described Reed Richards as Toni’s lab partner —not by choice—, which Toni hated pretty much on the principle that she could do all the work on her own. Steve understood now that basically students are divided into a group of five and given a certain amount of money for the development of their projects. The fact that Toni got to be on a two-man team was a concealed act of favoritism, and he wasn’t sure if it make him angry or disappointed.

Who is Toni Stark, really?

The last name is familiar, but he doesn’t recall any company by that name. She is an heiress and a genius, which again stretched out the need of this particular conversation.

“You time traveled and swapped bodies, this is fantastic!”

Steve bodily twitched while James seemed impassive with his arms crossed over his chest, but if stares could kill…

Reed dissimulated a cough, “I mean, it is terrible. For both of you, but how did this happen? What year are you from?”

James let out a sigh, closing his eyes for a second so he could rub at his temples. He looked stressed out and Steve feel bad for it, even if at the end James is doing all of this for Toni’s wellbeing and not for Steve’s, “We have no idea of how this happened, as for the year…”

“1939” Steve said. They didn’t talk about it, and saying it out loud made him feel nervous and a little panicky of knowing exactly how much time has passed.  
Reed and James exchanged glances —the later still looking rather skeptical with this situation—, and before James could comment something Reed said, “Don’t worry, I will find a way to change you back.”

The lazy and resigned mood disappeared, giving away to hope and surprise. Steve was the one to question the validation of that affirmation, “Can you do it?”

“This is the first time I encounter something like this, but I have been studying the probability of opening gaps throughout multiple universes and also the implications of this allowing us to travel through time itself so…” his voice got increasingly quick and excited with every word until Reed collected himself and continued in a slightly more contained way, “it will be an honor to study and resolve your problem. In the meantime let’s not reveal too much about the future, there are many variables at play and the least we want is to accidentally erase ourselves from existence”

James eyed esceptically the strange man, “Is that… No, never mind, I don’t want to know”

Later on, when it was just Steve and James sat on the living room, Rhodey said…

“I am not sure if this is a good idea”

“What do you mean?” Steve was confused, this is the best option they have and James didn’t want to give it a try.

“Don’t get me wrong. Toni is a pain but I do want her back. It is just that Reed seems…”

“Too enthusiastic?” 

Rhodey laughed and shook his head before standing up to stretch, “I was going to say crazy, but sure, that too” with a last smile and a “Good luck!” he was off to the guest room.

Steve stayed on the sofa, fidgeting a little while thinking about what he has himself gotten into, before eventually sighing and going to bed too. 

He tried not to think on how it just happens to be Toni’s bed. That the mattress was the comfiest one he has ever sleep in, and that the pillows have a certain sweet smell to them —Toni’s, his mind supplied, and he just wanted to walk back to the living room and sleep in that little sofa. But he stays, because it is not his body, and he should take care of it. 

Steve is no more than a stranger on this place, on her space, and by now he probably has already obliterated her privacy. 

Or so he thought until friday came around.

***

It just occurred to her in the sixth day, while waking up to a very normal and not at all missed pain at her navel, that maybe being a man had its advantages. She didn’t miss having her period at all...

She immediately cupped her breasts and jumped up from where she had been laying—in the bathtub back at her department in Boston, for some weird reason.

“Shit! Thank god I am back!”

Then she noted some discomfort between her legs, and suddenly was very much aware of the blood in the bathtub.

“The fuck happened?”

Meanwhile, back in the past, Steve Rogers woke up in the floor of his and Bucky’s department back in Brooklyn and promptly headed a sigh of relieve. He could still feel the pain and blushed at remembering what happened the last hour and a half. He even asked James if "Is she going to die?" before promptly passing out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the waiting, it had taken me some time to decide when to swap them. I mean, I could have gone on abour telling their gender issues during that week but It was already time for the plot to move on. Please comment and leave some kudos! :)


End file.
